Year: 2006

Microsoft recently sent the next version of Office, called the Office System 2007, to the duplicators. I’d been using a beta version on my 2nd PC for a while but upgraded my main PC (a Tecra M3 laptop) the other day with RTM bits. I must say it’s got some really cool features. I’m really…

Well, I think it’s time to move on. Despite the fact that I’m no longer assigned to the Flight Simulator project I have spent loads of time observing the FSX launch and trying to inject information and assistance where possible. At this point, though, I don’t think I can add very much to the collective…

UPDATE: Bookmark this page and check back regularly: http://support.microsoft.com/ph/11941. A new week and more information is surfacing about installation and activation problems. Many people are confusing the activation policies for FSX with those for Windows Vista. To answer some of the questions our product support team posted a FAQ article to their Knowledge Base:…

Wow, talk about obscure. It seems one cause of the activation problems some people have had is a seemingly innocuous registry value placed there by another program prior to installing FSX. So far we’ve determined that Iomega backup software is one culprit but there may be others. Apparently the software is “supposed” to set a…

With the official US street date now passed we’re seeing more and more people trying to install and run FSX. Naturally the first thing we hear about are the problems. It’s natural to want to overreact at first but until we know the full extent of any particular issue we just have to wait see. A good…

Briefly (I need to bug out early today) there are a couple of install issues emerging related to the DVDs. I thought this info might help: First, some people are complaining that the 2nd DVD isn’t recognized (or that they can’t eject it). One trend we’ve noticed is that folks having this problem are…

If you’re reading this blog you’re no doubt up to speed on the release of Flight Simulator X. Today’s the “official” release date for the US, though some parts of the world released earlier. (And some US retailers jumped the gun, too.) So far the initial reactions have centered on performance. Since this is a…

Many folks have followed my suggestion and sent their experiences to the tell_fs@microsoft.com alias. However, many seem to expecting a reply. Don’t hold your breath bceause it’s a one-way account. If you need help getting something to work, call Product Support. Cheers.

…It’s one of the hardest thing to gain when dealing with customers from afar. Still, it is possible. I suggested to the folks on AvSim to capture some objective data to back up their experience when running the new sim. Specifically what I suggested was to send the output from DXDIAG.EXE and a snapshot of…

Well, Flight Simulator X is starting to trickle out. Despite restrictions in the street date a few rogue Best Buy’s and Wal-Mart’s have been slipping boxes on to shelves. US stores aren’t supposed to have the product on sale until October 17 but it’s on sale in Canada so anyone willing to take a drive…